Twitter files lawsuit against German online reporting rule

FILE PHOTO: A Twitter logo is seen outside the company headquarters in San Francisco, California, U.S., January 11, 2021. REUTERS/Stephen Lam

BERLIN (Reuters) - Twitter has taken legal action against a rule, coming into force in Germany from Tuesday, that obliges social media firms to block or delete criminal content quickly and report particularly serious criminal offences to the police, a German court confirmed on Monday.

The lawsuit filed at the administrative court in Cologne challenges a provision under Germany's expanded anti-hate speech regulations that Twitter says allows user data to be passed to law enforcement before it is clear any crime has been committed.